Cost & Affordability

The cost of health care should be affordable to American families and businesses. Families must be able to meet the expenses of the care they need and the cost of health care to American employers and governments must be controlled. That means that care needs to be produced efficiently, without waste or unnecessary cost. This dashboard describes trends in the costs of care for treating specific prevalent conditions. It tracks the burden of health care costs on businesses and governments and the extent to which Americans can afford needed care. Finally, it reports on trends in the efficiency of care delivery and the competitiveness of the delivery system, key factors in keeping costs down. The national summary data for the measures that comprise this dashboard are presented below.

There was substantial consolidation in the hospital industry during the 1980s and 1990s, which slowed for much of the 2000s, before starting to rise again in 2009. Some research shows that providers in more highly concentrated markets charge higher prices to private payers relative to providers in less concentrated markets.